BlackRock $BLK Shares Sold by Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lowered its position in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,704 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 12,997 shares during the quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in BlackRock were worth $74,607,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,062,677 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $15,051,846,000 after acquiring an additional 221,123 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,264,545 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $6,705,193,000 after acquiring an additional 33,752 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 3,838,937 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,108,968,000 after acquiring an additional 12,019 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BlackRock by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,167,460 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,374,394,000 after acquiring an additional 27,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in BlackRock in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,742,680,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.69% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BlackRock

In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 33,900 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,050.55, for a total transaction of $35,613,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 230,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $242,168,583.80. The trade was a 12.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Robert Kapito sold 8,739 shares of BlackRock stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,056.60, for a total value of $9,233,627.40. Following the sale, the president directly owned 210,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $222,082,527.60. The trade was a 3.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.92% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on BLK shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,200.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,181.00 to $1,313.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Evercore cut their price objective on BlackRock from $1,220.00 to $1,140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BlackRock from $1,235.00 to $1,270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised BlackRock from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,264.61.

BlackRock Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE BLK opened at $1,031.45 on Monday. BlackRock has a 1 year low of $917.39 and a 1 year high of $1,219.94. The firm has a market cap of $160.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 4.09 and a current ratio of 4.09. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,039.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,051.60.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The asset manager reported $12.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $12.40 by $0.13. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.74% and a net margin of 24.40%.The business had revenue of $6.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $9.64 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BlackRock will post 52.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BlackRock Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $5.73 per share. This represents a $22.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 5th. BlackRock’s payout ratio is presently 57.53%.

Key Headlines Impacting BlackRock

Here are the key news stories impacting BlackRock this week:

• Negative Sentiment: BlackRock’s private-credit funds saw redemption requests far above the cap, and the firm is again limiting withdrawals, which could weigh on sentiment around its alternatives business. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Bloomberg and other reports said BlackRock’s HPS/HLEND private-credit vehicles capped redemptions after investors sought to withdraw more than 5%, underscoring continued pressure in the funds. Bloomberg article
• Neutral Sentiment: BlackRock also reported buying additional Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, and it is preparing an income-focused Bitcoin ETF, highlighting continued growth in its digital-asset franchise. Finbold article
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that BlackRock may seek about $5 billion of SpaceX IPO shares point to strong client demand and product breadth, but this is not as immediate a driver as the redemption headlines. Reuters article

BlackRock Company Profile

BlackRock, Inc is a global investment management firm that provides a broad range of products and services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors. Its core activities include portfolio management across active and index strategies, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the iShares brand, fixed income, equity and multi-asset solutions, as well as alternatives such as private equity, real estate and infrastructure. The firm also offers cash management and liquidity solutions and retirement-focused products designed for defined contribution and defined benefit investors.

In addition to traditional investment management, BlackRock is known for its technology and risk management capabilities, most prominently its Aladdin platform, which combines portfolio management, trading and risk analytics and is used both internally and licensed to external clients.